Drivers will soon be digging deeper into their pockets to fill up — maybe a lot deeper.

With OPEC nations cutting oil production and California’s pricey spring-summer blend of gasoline due to make its seasonal debut April 1, prices will jump between now and Memorial Day — maybe by as much as 80 cents a gallon, energy experts predict.

“You’ve been warned,” GasBuddy.com analyst Allison Mac said. “We will probably go up 50 to 80 cents by the very peak of this year. Is it possible that we can hit $4 a gallon? It all depends on what OPEC will do when it comes to holding back production, and also refinery issues.”

The predicted increases would take the current state average of $2.91 to the $3.40-to-$3.70 range. This time last year, gas averaged $2.30 a gallon.

Driver Bruce Leigh, of Walnut Creek, said paying a few cents more is no big deal — just as long as prices don’t approach the state’s record of $4.67 set in late 2012. “If it goes to anywhere near five dollars a gallon, I’ll start whining,” he said.

Any price hike would end more than a year of fairly stable prices at the pump — and the most stable period in the almost 20 years since cleaner-burning and more expensive reformulated gas was mandated across the state.

Last year was unusual, with many factors favoring motorists. While driving increased as it typically does in the spring and summer, gas supplies were more than ample in California and the nation. No hurricanes disrupted production in the Gulf of Mexico, the Iran nuclear deal eased tensions worldwide and refineries for the most part stayed on line. The last major refinery outage in California was two years ago when the Torrance refinery caught fire.

But now there are new supply worries. In November, several OPEC nations agreed to slash production by 1.2 million barrels a day. Saudi Arabia has been pumping oil at record levels to stymie Iran, but agreed to reduce the flow. Russia and other non-OPEC countries are planning cuts of 600,000 barrels a day.

Crude oil now costs $57 a barrel, the highest since 2015. Wholesale prices have increased in California by 50 cents to 60 cents per gallon over the past few months, said Tom Robinson, president of the South Bay-based Robinson Oil Corp.

Meanwhile, six state refineries have scaled back production for maintenance and repairs.

“Gas prices in San Francisco just hit $3 a gallon, and Los Angeles and Orange County are pennies away,” Mac said. “The last time we averaged $3 a gallon was back in October of 2015.”

Robinson wouldn’t predict an 80-cent-a gallon shocker, but he also wouldn’t rule it out. “Prices have been going up,” he said. “How much more is the question.”

Analysts at the California State Automobile Association and the California Energy Commission agree that higher prices are around the bend. But not everyone is predicting a steep hike.

“This gas expert does not say that prices will rise 80 cents by Memorial Day, though they could do just about anything,” said Severin Borenstein, an economics professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business who specializes in energy markets.

“I think that the best guess is they will rise a few cents by Memorial Day, but it is very hard to predict.”

Gary Richards has covered traffic and transportation in the Bay Area as Mr. Roadshow since 1992. Prior to that he was an assistant sports editor at the paper from 1984-1987. He started his journalism career as a sports editor in Iowa in 1975.

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